KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Atlas V fairing halves for the New Horizons spacecraft are driven away from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility. They are being transported to Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville. The fairing later will be placed around the New Horizons spacecraft in the Payload Hazardous Service Facility. The fairing later will be placed around the New Horizons spacecraft in the Payload Hazardous Service Facility. A fairing protects a spacecraft during launch and flight through the atmosphere. Once in space, it is jettisoned. The Lockheed Martin Atlas V is the launch vehicle for the New Horizons spacecraft, which is designed to make the first reconnaissance of Pluto and Charon - a "double planet" and the last planet in our solar system to be visited by spacecraft. The mission will then visit one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune. New Horizons is scheduled to launch in January 2006, swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February or March 2007, and reach Pluto and its moon, Charon, in July 2015. KSC-05pd2277
